So it turns out the economy is wreaking havoc on the tooth fairy as well. According to THIS article…
The average amount given to sweet, adorable children by the Tooth Fairy last year was a mere $2.10. That’s down 17% from the year before, representing one of the largest declines in spending for the tightwad sprite since 1998. What gives?
We’ve always given our kids a dollar for a lost tooth if they lose it naturally. If your brother knocks it out than you get $2. I guess I didn’t realize just how “tight” I was. 
So what’s the going rate at your house?
Hahaha! $2 if your brother knocks it out?! I take it that has happened in your family?!
We do a golden dollar coin. When our oldest lost her first two teeth last summer my husband went out and got a whole roll of dollar coins so he would be prepared for the next 7 years or so of tooth fairy business.
We’re gonna need another visit from the sprite here pretty soon – Leah showed me her third wiggly tooth just this morning.
That’s a really cool idea.
That’s what we do, too! We call it fairy money.
You know, it’s a running joke around our house, the tooth fairy is just not reliable. Prior to my children losing any teeth, I thought the whole tooth fairy part of parenting would be a breeze. Not so. It’s hard to remember to put money under that pillow. My kids are not the greatest at remembering either, even though there is money involved. I’ve went so far as to assure my child the money was left but they must have knocked it off the bed while they were sleeping, where I would miracously find it. We have no set amount, which is a good thing, just usually (tip my purse to one side) and find whatever change I can throw into a baggie. Parenting….LOL. In God’s Love, sheila
We’ve forgotten a time or two.
$1
We got $1….unless the dentist had to pull it out….then we got nothing
I had nine teeth pulled within a week…the worst part was missing out on the $9!
One year Diana was so racked with guilt for forgetting to put money under one or our kids pillows that a few days later she put a new DVD under there.
I was like “Great! Raise bars much?”
Too funny. Any chance it was ‘The Tooth Fairy’?
We give a $1 for a lost tooth. I guess I am tightwad too.
wow! I think I got like a quarter for a tooth when I was kid. Maybe, like a silver dollar, or maybe a half-dollar (which, even though it is less than a dollar, you can totally get a way with ’cause it’s so rare and cool). I guess I really got skimped (I lost my teeth in the 90s by the way)
Besides, How do they know how much the tooth fairy is giving out anyway? oh well….
Like the post pete
I remember as a child exchanging milk teeth for money helped me to take a pride in keeping them nice and clean.
My mum used to tell me folk tales about tooth extraction. I found them fascinating!
I think it’s customary, when setting prices, to only leave enough currency to replenish candy stores.
1 quarter for each year you are old… so my 6 year old gets $1.50
Nice…working in a little math along the way.
$5 for the very first tooth ever lost and then $1 for the rest
At least a couple of bucks a tooth. But that’s only because I asked the same question on Facebook and realized, also, what a tight wad I was.
You know everyone embellishes the truth on Facebook, right? lol
It’s a “golden dollar” coin at our house, too! And it has been for 15 years. It all started when I got a car wash at a local place and the only change they give is dollar coins. So, when one of our little people is nearing the tooth-losing stage, I get a car wash and pay with a $20.
We’re out of the tooth fairy phase around here, but I remember a couple of occasions where my son would wake up traumatized that the tooth fairy had forgotten to take his tooth and leave him a dollar. Then I would mysteriously find it under the folds of his pillow. My daughter, on the other hand, said she didn’t want money, she’d rather keep her teeth, which she stores in a little ceramic box.
It’s $1 in our house, unless the Tooth Fairy has forgotten 3 nights in a row. Then a “pathetic parenting tax” is applied and they get $2 with a note of apology from the Tooth Fairy.
$1 plus fairy glitter for the first tooth, $1 each after unless it was really difficult or dentist had to pull…then we kicked in a little extra. And we would forget too…
Kids are both frown on out of the house, so when I come up missing a tooth, it is actually me paying the dentist or ER doc, the whole time the wife simply stating “Well he deserved it!” Unfortunately she is right.
When the kids were home, the going rate started out at $1, however when Grandma found out, the Tooth Fairy going rate went up to $5.
We gave $1.00 per tooth. Didn’t matter how they came out–ha!
Wow, I need to reduce my rate but is that possible? We give $4/tooth. We have gotten hammered because he tends to lose them in pairs. His first was “special” and the tooth fairy left $10.